Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Fred - Get a grip!! Bookies? Polls? You will be telling me to read the Sun next.

I thought you did!

Good Evening.

Fred - How about if it is possible Money am set up a poll, lasting a day or a week whatever, call it the 'next government'. If Labour get the nod I will abstain from posting until after the real election on the proviso you do the same if Conservatives get the nod? ........Ian

Fred,

Re 'What is common place and useful to-day, was un-thought of 20 years ago'.

Whilst I agree that a lot of things are common place now to say 20 years ago, it does not make many of them right, IE Increase in, Bad Manners, Unruly behaviour, Drug taking, Violence, to name but a few, are more common place.

As to my comments re the NHS and the like, I was trying to put the point of view that it is endemic and not just down to a few GPs and sloppy secretaries.
Workers in the NHS are being told to do whatever is necessary to show 'Targets are being kept'. And like I said, re Crime figures/targets I have abundant prove of these figures being fiddled.
As to 'Whipping up of public indignation ', I would like to quote my sons favourite saying, 'All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing'. Perhaps a bit more whipping up of public indignation is what this country could do with. I feel if more people moaned as much as I do, the bad things in life would not be as readily accepted as they are. We put up with far too much in this country. Once standards have dropped it is very hard to get them back up again, you only have to look at discipline in schools and the home.

I note you feel that some posters are becoming a tad bit personal. I do agree with you in that respect, but I do find you are also getting a bit personal. Although I do find your posts get to me sometimes (wind me up) I put that down to me and to no intention on your part (I hope).
So lets all keep the posts coming, without personal digs.

Regards Greek.

CC

No.

Because a poll of any general validity needs a random selection of an "uninterested" pool, before you make any valid deduction from the information collected.

Even then, it would not necessarily indicative, or even meaningful regarding the likely outcome of the election, etc..


My guess, is that the Moneyam punters (as a group) are anything but representative of the general electorate.


If you wish to obtain a result, which may or would give "you" a validity to pushing go ahead.

I would be interested in the result.

If the poll was a "yes" for "labour", would you change herds?

I doubt that it would induce me to become a party member.

Fred.I think you know from my previous postsI have had good punts on a hung Parliament.and May election

tabasco - 14 Dec 2009
I cannot see any alternativesMay is a very good bet
No Overall Majority @16/5 could be the bet
----------------------------
up to the minute odds
Conservative Majority10/11
No Overall Majority6/4
Labour Majority.10/1
Any Other Party Majority820/1

Election Date - Month
May 2010.1/20
June 2010.17/1
April 2010.99/1

Fred - What you really mean is you like the sound of your own voice to much! Worth a try :o)

You dont have to be too clever to see how strong my position is.thats what you get for being a lucky thicko?

Greek,

I have not noticed you being offensive to me, and generally your comments or arguments are related to the subject under consideration.

I have not been deliberately offensive to you, or intend to be, although I disagree with some of your positioning on various topics.

If I intended to be abusive to you, I am sure you would be aware of my intent.

True, I am often deliberately provocative, as I am to my grand children, who often laugh and say "Grandad you are at again.".

It can be part of trying to stimulate thought and understanding.

There is a difference between the man, and the actions of the man, although sometimes the actions can be seen as representative of the man.

Right that is out of the way.

==============

"Whilst I agree that a lot of things are common place now to say 20 years ago, it does not make many of them right, IE Increase in, Bad Manners, Unruly behaviour, Drug taking, Violence, to name but a few, are more common place."

=========

Partially I agree, but when I reflect on the past and consider certain individuals in the working environments and jobs I have done, doubt creeps in and I somehow doubt that we are much worse.

It may be more obvious and publically condoned.

(The violence and football hooliganism seems to have disappeared or at least diminished from our screens.)

Drugs and alcoholism are now less of a problem now than in many periods.
I don't think what we can label as "sloppiness" is generalised in the NHS, but think there is an increasing lack of empathy.

But sloppiness was and is responsible of many industrial accidents, less prevalent than in earlier periods.

Constructive criticism is always valid, but sometimes the intention is destructive, for covert reasons.

Unfortunately, to judge improvements from innovation, one needs valid data and statistical analysis.

The collection of that data can be irritating and attempts should be made to make the data collected of as pain free as possible.

The correlation of data collected is important because the theories of today lead to the inventions of tomorrow.

I leave you in peace.

Best wishes and have a good evening, it could be our last. 8-)

Tabs,

Thanks.

Other than shares, not a betting man.

The odds seem to be closing.

Fred,

As I said, I put that down to me and to no intention on your part. The 'I hope' was tongue in cheek. I obviously have no problem re your disagreeing with me. Thats what makes this thread interesting.
As to your posts winding me up, believe me it don't take much.
If I had auditioned for the part of Victor Meldrew, I would have no doubt been found to be 'far too bolshie'.
Perhaps us Granddads should form our own political party.

Tab,

Other than shares not a betting man.

Fredthat can be bad enoughany gamble should be thoroughly calculatedwe all know what a blinkered runner Brown is with his mismanagement of the public finances and Cameron the only other runnershould be a certaintyhe is a sprinter that is head strongpulls hardput I fear fades in the final furlong
The Conservatives have pledged to take an axe to the budget deficit to reduce the sizethe average family are already running on emptythe people I speak with dont trust or understand the logic of Cameronhe has promised to ring-fence healthand that aint cheapit has got to mean massive tax increasesbut he wont give us a clue?when a strong interviewer gets stuck into himthe man visually bucklesand answers all tough questions withwhat Im saying is meaning he aint got a fcuking clue to the answer! he is great at talking when not asked a questionput him on the spotand hes in a spot of botherthe hardened Labour voters will never change!the undecided are worried about the cost to them with radical changethe most loyal of bluesdont get Cameronfor this reason I would say pretty much a draw by defaultand certainly not the landslide some have predicted on these BBs.I hope for a change

Tabasco,

Why don't they listen.

Listen to any business man/woman, and financial analyst (don't hold much truck at all re analysts, but in this instance they are right) or any member of the public and you get the same answer. 'We want to know details', so why doesn't any political party have the bottle (or sense) to put as they say, meat on the bone.
The public are I am sure ready to take the medicine, but they want to know what the medicine contains. Most are not imbeciles, and will vote for the party that treats them at least with a modicum of common sense. We know we are in for a tears to the eyes, ball grabbing squeeze, but we want to know when and how much it's going to hurt.
Of course there will always be those who live off the state, without justification who will continue to vote for whichever party gives them the biggest handouts. These people look no further ahead than their next free gift.

What part of, 'We need to know', don't they understand.

Greekyour post is of course rightbut it aint never going to happenyou wont get details in Lawso that loop holes can be found for the chosen fewour tax system is the most complicated one in the Worldand those least needy have deceived most whygo back to answer oneour Politicians have bent the rules for years for personal gain and got away with itwhygo back to answer onethe labour sleaze-balls just caught trying to feathering their nestNo public enquiry?Why?need I go on?we are nearly as democratic as Americaand nearly as corruptlol got to golook forward to other posters thoughts later

Tabasco,

You say it ain't never going to happen. I agree, but I live in hope (just).
I do think you are being a bit harsh re politicians 'bending the rule', when they all clearly state, they either misunderstood, made errors of judgement or both.
You will start saying they are just plain lier's next.

If they are right, and we all know they knew what they were doing and their intent was 100%, then what chance is their judgement in all things appertaining to ruining (sorry meant running) the country.

G and T.

There are many who I am happy to pay to be unemployed.

It is safer that way.

I would like to see Cameron, Osborne (porky) and a few more, unemployed next year.

But hope that they have financial assessment, before getting their huge benefits.

But if you lads want to be governed from Belize, Autria and the Seychelles vote tory.





















8-)

Or if you want more of the same:-

Lies Lies And More Lies:-

Vote Unite sorry Labour (same difference)

The Kraken Wakes!

Must be practising what he learnt from Wishy and Washy or the old Etonian shadow front bench.

By the way, where is the tory Shadowy Front Bench?

Other than for the blustering Clarke, they all seem hidden away.

Edited

"Who do you think you are? Sterling Moss?"

F1 ace Lewis Hamilton has been caught driving recklessly and had his car impounded by Australian Police, it was revealed today.

The McLaren driver allegedly "deliberately spun" his silver Mercedes along a road in Melbourne in front of a police van that pulled him over. The Victoria Police divisional van's driver saw Hamilton turn into the street with smoking wheels, it was said.

Lewis is in Australia ahead of Grand Prix.

The former world champion today apologised for his "over-exuberant" driving. In a statement he said: "This evening, I was driving in an over-exuberant manner and, as a result, was stopped by the police. What I did was silly, and I want to apologise for it."

He will now be charged with improper use of a vehicle. The sports car was towed to a police garage where it will be held for 48 hours under reckless driving laws.

Senior Constable Scott Woodford said the 2008 world champion stopped right away and was cooperative. He said: "It would have been fair to say he was fairly disappointed with the incident."

Hamilton was interviewed for around half an hour in his car, and would have been routinely breath-tested. The ace, who was said to be visibly upset, will also receive a fine. It is understood he told policemen at the scene that he was worried this would dent his reputation.

The Herald Sun newspaper, in Australia, reported that he was not taken back to the police station for questioning.

The incident happened at around 9.15pm today Australian time (10.15am GMT).

In 2007, Hamilton was banned from driving in France after being clocked driving at 123mph (200kmh). He was given an on-the-spot fine and his sports car was impounded by French police.

The star is due to race at Albert Park Melbourne in the Australian Grand Prix this weekend.

Read more at: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2908923/Lewis-Hamilton-caught-reckless-driving.html#ixzz0jIbwcvVr

The election will be on May 6.